A leading voice for justice and equity in the music industry and beyond, Kam Franklin is an interdisciplinary artist and activist whose work transcends genre and medium to speak to the core of our shared humanity. Though she’s perhaps most widely recognized as the powerhouse singer and songwriter at the helm of acclaimed Gulf Coast soul band The Suffers, Franklin has also established herself as a prolific writer, orator, model, actress, visual artist, and entrepreneur over the course of the last decade, utilizing her platform to champion more inclusive environments for Black, queer, femme, and non-binary artists around the world. Her new single, “Byrd and Shepard,” brings together the disparate threads of her multifaceted career, reflecting on the 1998 killings of James Byrd, Jr., and Matthew Shepard and offering up a pointed reflection on our collective responsibility to fight for a better, more just future in the face of rising hate and intolerance.

Chloé Marie is a New Orleans–based singer-songwriter whose work spans the full spectrum of the human experience — from shadow to sunlight — carried by a rich, resonant voice and unmistakable folk-rock sensibility. Born in Baton Rouge, she grew up singing in choirs and performing in musical theatre before stepping into music professionally just a few years ago with her band Alabaster Stag. The group quickly gained regional traction, sharing stages with Big Freedia, Tank and the Bangas, Flow Tribe, GIVERS, and more.